Few hotels in Sri Lanka are able to capture their architectural legacy and rich historical heritage as Mount Lavinia Hotel. Celebrating a momentous 210 years, the Hotel recently announced its first bespoke event titled ‘Words on the Mount’ to be held in July 2016. The iconic hotel has gained fame and international repute for continuously presenting an impressive array of events. The Hotel prepares to celebrate a significant milestone hosting a prestigious authors’ event resonates in showcasing its colonial heritage and distinct trendsetting identity. The event is set to promote Sri Lanka as an incomparable destination and Mount Lavinia Hotel as the nation’s most loved mansion, celebrating her extraordinary colonial past entwined with modern literature. This unique and innovative two day extravaganza will begin on July 8th and continue on 9th July introducing writers who have a ‘special connection’ to Sri Lanka. “We are delighted to be hosting some notable

How Daphne du Maurier wrote Rebecca Matthew Dennison Suspicion within Daphne du Maurier’s own marriage fuelled the tense, macabre plot of Rebecca, says Matthew Dennison In 1937, Daphne du Maurier signed a three-book deal with Victor Gollancz. She was 30 years old, the author of four previous novels, including, most recently, Jamaica Inn. She knew already the title of the first of the books she would write for Gollancz: Rebecca. Beyond that point, she had scarcely thought. On and off for the past five years she had been toying with an idea. Its theme was jealousy. It came to Daphne the year she married Frederick “Boy” Browning, whom she called Tommy. Tommy had been engaged before – to glamorous, dark-haired Jan Ricardo. The suspicion that Tommy remained attracted to Ricardo haunted Daphne. She accepted from Gollancz an advance of £1,000 – the equivalent of 18 months of Tommy’s pay as